Home News Cannabis News Current Policies Impede Cannabis Research, VA Doctor Says

Current Policies Impede Cannabis Research, VA Doctor Says

0
Current Policies Impede Cannabis Research, VA Doctor Says

Under current federal laws, cannabis remains a Scheduled I Drug. This classification is set for substances considered to be the most addictive and dangerous anywhere. Yet, in the past couple of decades, states have legalized medical and recreational cannabis. What research has been done shows cannabis to have several therapeutic effects as well as anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor. However, the federal government keeps cannabis on the Scheduled I list. 

Researchers have been speaking out against this classification. There is much more to cannabis than its psychoactive properties. It’s been shown to benefit all kinds of people, including veterans with pain and PTSD. Doctors in states with legal cannabis, have prescribed medical cannabis to veterans and have seen incredible results. Yet the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) can’t change the rules surrounding cannabis’ scheduling. Now, VA doctors speak out against the way cannabis research continues because of the current laws. 

Limitations

One such VA doctor is Dr. Hal Wortzel, MD. He is a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the Denver VA’s Rocky Mountain MIRECC. Dr. Wortzel serves as the Director VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness in Psychiatry, taking a specialty in suicide. Dr. Wortzel helps find new ways to prevent veteran suicide, and cannabis is a viable option he would like to turn to. In an interview with the Rocky Mountain MIRECC’s podcast, Dr. Wortzel spoke about the limitations and the potential cannabis has for veterans. 

“In the world of cannabis, because marijuana and marijuana products are still technically federally illegal, to do those kinds of experimental studies, you have to use basically the marijuana product that’s been developed by the United States government for that purpose, which, of course, is not the the product that the vast majority of Americans are utilizing or purchasing in dispensaries like here in Colorado,” Dr. Wortzel said.

Until recently, only the University of Mississippi could federally grow cannabis for government testing. However, the cannabis grown at this facility more closely resembles hemp rather than cannabis researchers found. What limited tests become conducted use cannabis, which is not similar to what the general public is consuming. This skews results and does not accurately represent the research results. 

Observations

This led Dr. Wortzel and his team to conduct more of an observational study. 150 individuals volunteered to report on their cannabis. 75 of these individuals used cannabis regularly. The other 75 hadn’t touched cannabis at all.

“Among persons using marijuana for PTSD, relative to the group that was not using marijuana, we saw those folks using marijuana products get a little bit better more quickly, and they were about two and a half times more likely over the course of the study year to no longer meet criteria for PTSD than those folks who were not using marijuana products,” Dr. Wortzel said.

For the 75 individuals using cannabis to help their PTSD symptoms, they reported a very positive result. They found that many of them had fewer ‘hyperarousal’ symptoms of PTSD,” he explained. “Those sorts of symptoms appear to be most responsive to marijuana, at least in this investigation.”

But these results aren’t official. They are anecdotal at best. Subjects were volunteers openly discussing the hardships of cannabis. But the environment and the amount of cannabis each individual consumed was not tracked or accounted for when finding results. 

Law Changes

The U.S. Congress has discussed several different cannabis bills in the last year, from home growth and cultivation, to possession and research. Using cannabis for PTSD in veterans was a major focus, and the Senate passed an amendment in a bill to allow easier access to cannabis for research purposes.

However, the VA falls under government regulation, and with cannabis a Schedule I drug, they aren’t able to conduct technical and clinical research experiments. This hinders both the VA and its patients who have found the positive use of cannabis for their symptoms. 

With a push for descheduling and legalizing cannabis, there could be a change in policy for veterans in the VA. However, it will be up to the House and the Senate to agree upon before sending any bill to President Biden. Then it’s up to the president to either approve or veto it. Should he veto a legalization bill, it would then take a ⅔ majority in both the House and the Senate to override and make it a law. As more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest. 

Make sure to check back for more cannabis, hemp, and psychedelic related news